Pattern Blocks

Pattern Blocks are one of the mathematical manipulatives developed in the 1960s by Education Development Center as part of their Elementary Science Study project.[1] They allow children to see how shapes can be decomposed into other shapes, and introduce children to ideas of tilings. The Pattern Blocks includes multiple copies of six shapes:

All the angles are multiples of 30° (1/12 of a circle): 30° (1×), 60° (2×), 90° (3×), 120° (4×), and 150° (5×).

Pattern Blocks are used for creative design—"floor" tiling patterns; pictures of animals, flowers, boats, rockets, and so on—and for mathematical purposes other than geometric (e.g., introducing ideas of fractions and proportionality).

An example of their use is given by Meha Agrawal: "Starting from the center, I would add tier after tier of blocks to build my pattern — it was an iterative process, because if something didn't look aesthetically appealing or fit correctly, it would require peeling off a layer and reevaluating ways to fix it. The best part was the gratification I received when my creation was complete. Though individually boring, collectively these blocks produced an intricate masterpiece that brought art and math, big-picture and detail, simplicity and complexity closer together".[2]

The black chevron and pink double hexagon are one set of fraction pattern blocks

The purple triangle and brown quadrilateral are another pair of fraction pattern blocks.

Pattern Blocks and Deci-Blocks

A number of compatible shapes that extend pattern blocks are commercially available. Two sets of "Fractional Pattern Blocks" exist: both with two blocks.[3] The first has a pink double hexagon and a black chevron equivalent to four triangles. The second has a brown half-trapezoid and a pink half-triangle. Another set, Deci-Blocks, is made up of six shapes, equivalent to four, five, seven, eight, nine and ten triangles respectively.